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Belarus tops European cyber-attacks chart registering 2 million in last month

Cyberattacks have reached over 2.1 million in Belarus during the past month. Credit: Getty.
Cyberattacks have reached over 2.1 million in Belarus during the past month. Credit: Getty.

Belarus faced more than 2.1 million cyber-attacks in the past 31 days as political tensions continue to mount.

The country recorded the highest number of cyber threats in Europe, with an average of 68,567 per day.

Cyber attacks directed at Belarus now make up 19% of all European threats, according to data by Atlas VPN.

Rachel Welsh, COO of Atlas VPN, said: “Belarus is facing one of the biggest political crises in decades right now. Therefore, the rise in cyber-attacks in the country is not surprising. As with any crisis, cybercriminals are trying to take advantage of the situation and exploit it for their benefit.”

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READ MORE: COVID-19 leads to surge in cyber-attacks

The day with most cyber-attacks registered in Belarus was 24 August with citizens experiencing 83,009 local infections that day — 21% above the average.

The quietest day for infections was August 11 with only 39,200 attacks that day — 43% below the average.

The former Soviet Union state is closely followed by Moldova, which faced almost 17% of cyber attacks targeting European countries between August 8 and September 7 2020.

Russia appears next on the list, followed by Ukraine and Albania.

Data from Atlas VPN
Data from Atlas VPN

The report found a 26% dip in cyber-attacks on Saturdays, revealing that cybercriminals are more active on weekdays than weekends.

The data is based on the numbers of local infections registered in European countries. These are infections that target devices by spreading malware via removable media, such as USB drives, CDs, DVDs, and other “offline” methods.

READ MORE: Scam red flags seen in half of all post-lockdown pension transfers

The greatest threat across all top countries, including Belarus, was “DangerousObject.Multi.Generic,” a name for Trojan or Ransomware threats present on the system. These can make changes to a device's system making it easier for hackers to steal private data.

Users' devices can become infected with malicious software via spam email attachments, fake Java installers, Flash Player updates, software cracking tools, or infected external devices.